Monday, December 8, 2008

Beauty Review: L'Oréal Bare Naturale Gentle Mineral Powder (Pressed)

I wasn’t one to jump on the mineral make-up bandwagon (I love me my make-up and really don’t mind a full make-up routine of foundation, concealer and powder!). But for lighter days and times when you’re rushed, mineral make-up definitely makes sense...and it doesn't hurt that the ingredients are made to be better for your skin! For a mineral make-up product, I initially found L'Oréal's Bare Naturale Gentle Mineral Powder to be quite heavy and even cakey in appearance. I thought it might be the flat brush that came with the product or the fact that it was a pressed (rather than a loose) powder that made the application seem to apply thicker than usual. Not one to give up on a product after only one try, I did manage to have better results on the second day by using a dome powder brush and a lighter hand in application. Using this type of brush helped to better distribute the powder over a larger area of the face - I didn’t have to keep dipping my brush to grab more powder for application, which also meant less risk of using too much product (likely the cause of the initial cake effect). Instead with the dome brush, it only took a couple of swipes and I was good to go!

In terms of coverage, the product was good without being too thick and cakey once I adjusted for the brush and technique. I did like the fact that when I checked the mirror at lunchtime, there wasn’t as much shine in the T-zone as other powders I’ve tested out. I tried to tweak the application technique for the remainder of the week, still using the dome powder brush and a lighter hand in application. I tried the powder with foundation on one day (I know...defeats the purpose of mineral make-up, but I had to try!) and without foundation on another day. With foundation, it worked as a good setting powder. Without foundation, it went on smoothly, but I had to ensure I thoroughly moisturized to avoid any drier areas of my face from standing out. Throughout the week, the results were the same: decent coverage that didn’t require much touch-up after a half day’s wear. I found L’oreal’s Bare Naturale to be an ok powder, but it lacked the wow-factor that made me think I have to scoop up several of these right now!! Also, since I had to use a separate brush not included in the orginal packaging, I think I will save the $12 that you’d pay for this and put that money towards a mineral powder that has that ‘it’ factor!

Have you tried L’oreal’s Bare Naturale Gentle Mineral Powder? Did you have better results? Leave a comment and let Make-up Junkie know!

ARTIST TIP: If you feel like you’ve applied too much powder, use a clean buffer brush and use circular motions in the areas of concern to buff off any excess product.